Many countries around the world are developing explicit strategies to promote “bio-based” economic transitions, so as to reduce their dependency on non-renewable resources, and to enhance sustainability. The bio- or “green” economy is generally looked to as an opportunity to meet the growing global demand for food, fuel, fiber and other biomass uses, while at the same time reducing the impact of economic development on the environment. Despite opportunities for both economic development and the environment, research has also highlighted important potential trade-offs associated with a bio-based transition at global scale. The diversion of agricultural land from food to energy crops or forest plantations will affect food supply and smallholder livelihoods (livelihood trade-off). Expanding agriculture further into natural ecosystems may compromise their multiple ecological functions, such as biodiversity conservation and carbon fixation (ecosystem services trade-off).

The overall goal and purpose of the project is to contribute to the design of policies and measures that promote synergies between global bioeconomy development, forest ecosystem service provision (more sustainable management of natural resources), and poverty alleviation (reducing rural poverty) at tropical forest margins in Brazil and Indonesia.

Methodology

Global trade and spatially explicit land use modelling, country case-studies, value chain analyis

Main Cooperation Partners

Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)

Institute for Food and Resource Economics (ILR), University of Bonn

Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ), University of Sao Paulo

German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through the Advisory Service on Agricultural Research for Development (Beratungsgruppe Entwicklungsorientierte Agrarforschung - BEAF).